Lib at Large: The return of Ronnie Montrose

AFTER WINNING WHAT he describes as "a wicked, wicked battle with prostate cancer," 1970s guitar hero Ronnie Montrose is on the comeback trail, kicking off his first tour with his new band Labor Day weekend at the Sausalito Art Festival.

"Coming back from illness, I'm healthy now and feeling great," the 63-year-old hard rock pioneer said while rehearsing with the latest edition of his original band, Montrose, at the Plant Studio in Sausalito. "Now that I'm living without pain, I want to play guitar for people every single day."

Being back at the Plant, where he did a live radio show in 1973, "feels like old home week," he said. "I'm a Sausalito boy. Back then I lived in a three-bedroom Spanish-style home on Bonita Street and my rent was a whopping $325 a month. With a garage."

In those days, when Marin was brimming with young rockers who were migrating to Marin, young Ronnie Montrose got his first big break when he was picked to play on fellow Marin resident Van Morrison's 1971 album, "Tupelo Honey." He was also featured on a track of Morrison's 1972 follow-up, "St. Dominic's Preview."

Montrose, who now lives on the Peninsula, left Marin in 1972 to join the Edgar Winter Group. He'll be jamming with Winter, his friend and former mentor, at the art festival this weekend.

"I always considered Edgar to be like a big brother," he said. "We always had great conversations. He's one of the most brilliant musicians and nice guys."

Montrose formed his own band in 1973, teaming with a then little-known singer named Sammy Hagar on an eponymous debut album that unleashed the Montrose signature songs "Rock Candy," "Bad Motor Scooter," "Space Station No. 5" and "Rock the Nation," among others now considered hard rock classics.

"We were like Jagger and Richards, (Steven) Tyler and (Joe) Perry," he said of his collaboration with Hagar, who still lives in Mill Valley. "We were a team that worked well at that time."

After the first two Montrose albums and tours, however, a bitter Hagar left the band for a solo career, feeling, as he says in "Red," his recent autobiography, that Montrose "shut me out, held me back and pushed me down."

Montrose smiles at the memory of his youthful head-banging with Hagar, and he says that they have buried the hatchet enough to at least be on speaking terms.

"People ask me, 'What happened with Sammy?' and I say, 'Did you have a first boyfriend or girlfriend? Do you still see them?'" he said with a grin. "We're both 63, but when we talk on the phone, there's no age. We've known each other so long we might as well still be 20."

After recovering from cancer, Montrose, whose head is shaved whose once-lithe frame has become linebacker stocky, is not one to waste precious energy holding a grudge. He knew something was wrong with his health in 2008, while working on recording projects in his home studio, and went in for a complete physical.

"They did a biopsy and that's when they found the prostate cancer," he recalled. "They said, 'You can live with it if you want.' But I'm a very proactive person. If it's in my body and it's not supposed to be there, then it's gone."

He chose to undergo radioactive seed implants, a form of radiation therapy that took its toll on him, but was ultimately successful.

"I had a strong adverse reaction to it," he remembered. "Without going into detail, it was painful for a couple of years. It degenerated my health so badly that I literally didn't pick up a guitar for two years. I lost my joie de vivre. I didn't want to bore people with what was going on with me. I became a recluse, took care of it and came out the other side."

Now cancer-free, the once sullen young rock star is older, wiser, glad to be alive and raring to get out on the road again with a hand-picked band of young musicians with the energy and enthusiasm to infuse his old songs with new life.

Some of those songs are from Gamma, the band he formed with Marin singer Davey Pattison in 1979.

"Back in those days, it was all about bravado on stage, but now I totally connect with people," he said. "I'm really blessed 40 years later to have people still singing along to Montrose tunes. And now they're bringing their kids and grandkids."

But music is just one entry on a bucket list of activities he's eager to do now that he has a new lease on life. He mentioned gardening, woodworking, camping, fishing, spending time with his wife, Leighsa.

"I have a whole agenda of things I want to do with my music and my life," he said before bounding back into the studio. "Everything is essential and critical to me now. I don't want to waste any time."